the saturday soup – silky spinach soup February 19, 2011

If ever I’ve made a feel good soup…the kind that makes you believe you’re really nourishing yourself…it would be this one. One of the ingredients I’m currently obsessed with – I go through stages where I want to cook a million recipes with one thing and then I don’t touch it for a month or so – is spinach. In an effort to make sure I’m not just eating a bunch of mindless carbohydrates in place of meat, I’ve been trying to incorporate more dark greens and beans into the repertoire around here. I bought a 5 pound bag of baby spinach at the market and I’ve worked my way through about half of it. It’s gone into salads, a great baked white bean casserole and this soup.

People get freak out by green pureed soups – I think they fear it’s going to be a bowl full of bitterness. Let me assure you – this soup is packed with flavor and, when topped with a teeny sprinkle of Parmesan cheese – echoes the flavor of creamed spinach without having any cream or milk in it. Outside of the butter, this recipe is completely vegan so you could easily replace it with your preferred cooking oil. Served with a crusty piece of whole wheat bread, this was such a soul soothing lunch.

– In a large soup/stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another 1 to 2 minutes – you want the garlic to soften but not brown. To that mixture, add the peeled potatoes. Stir to coat and begin softening them for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the vegetable broth (or water) and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook the potatoes until fork tender – around 12 to 15 minutes. Add in the spinach and cook until just wilted. In a Vitamix/blender (you’ll have to do this in 2 to 3 batches but the texture is amazing when using a Vitamix or high powered blender) or using an immersion blender, puree the soup to desired consistency. Return to the soup pot and stir in the sherry, cayenne pepper, nutmeg and salt & pepper to taste. Before serving, bring the soup back up to temperature over medium heat. Garnish with parmesan cheese and other desired greens and serve immediately.

Ok. I’m not kidding but I just bought two bunches of spinach to make an Indian curry with. I’m always on the lookout for mroe thinsg to dow it it and this is perfect. My only gripe with spinach is that sometimes it turns bitter- wonder why!

Spinach was one of the only leafy vegetable I eat while growing up but always been limited to Indian preparations or in salads. But this just reminded me of a fabulous soup my mom used to make! Look at the color here – LOVELY!

Oh my goodness I love this! And that image is just absolute perfection.

winnie Feb 19, 2011 05:02 pm

hi Tammy,

I’ve recently rediscovered your blog with a great new look! And I’m loving your Saturday soups (have been tuning in every week!) This soup looks fantastic and my new immersion blender just came in the mail so the obsession begins again (mine is obsession with the blender rather than the ingredient.)
Question–if I don’t have dry sherry, can I replace it with something else?

hi winnie – thanks for stopping by the blog :) i think if you don’t have sherry, cooking sherry or maybe a teensy splash of white wine might work. really…the sherry just helps bring the flavor more to the creamed spinach end of things. it’ll be delicious without it – just taste it and season it.

[…] of the year? Running with Tweezers, a fabulous food stylist & blogger in Atlanta, posted her Silky Spinach Soup a few weeks ago, I immediately bookmarked it–if only because she posted it right when we […]

[…] Say hello to my 6 year old daughter Chayse. She is eating some silky spinache soup. This soup is so awesome. My kids absolutely love this soup. Chayse is a very picky eater so I’m always very happy when she eats this soup. The recipe is from Tami over at runningwithtweezers.com… You can find the recipe in this link: […]